The Gamer Chapter 1329 – The Country Gal Clarifications (Patreon)

John shook out his wrist.

The impact from the punch still sat deep in the joint. With mundane Strength and Endurance, having a fistfight was so much more intense. Every swing was a clear step towards exhaustion, every grapple could be the last, and falling the wrong way could unluckily lead to a deadly concussion. Simultaneously, the human body was incredibly durable and fragile.

That being said, the Gamer hadn’t gotten hit at all. Even though he had done his best to make the fight as fair as it could be, Stat and reflex wise, there was no way a 24 year old steelworker could have had the same battle experience as him. John was a kickboxer, a war veteran, and a literal monster slayer. His list of achievements was ridiculous.

It had come to this situation in the expected way. He and Hailey had pulled up to the shop. Upon seeing him, the young man had given John all sorts of pissed-off glances. The owner of the shop was clearly out of the age to get involved in these things – which did include him not saying anything when the young man said part of the order was behind the building. No one present had been fooled by that announcement. Less than a minute later, John had been told to get ready for the fistfight, which now, three minutes later, was concluding.

The steelworker rolled onto his back. He had a busted lip from the straight right that had him fall into the grass in the first place. Heavily breathing, he stared up at John with a mixture of envy and begrudging respect. Whether it should be that way or not was debatable, but sometimes men really did just speak with their fists.

John turned to the wall of the building’s extension and firmly smacked it. The wavy, patchy metal sung from the impact. While the sound was still ebbing away, nearly drowning out the sound of footsteps behind it, the Gamer offered his hand to the guy. “Sorry, but you don’t have a chance.”

“Whatever,” the man responded and let himself get pulled up. “You’re tough for a-“

“If you call me a coaster, I’m putting you back on the floor,” the Gamer threatened in a dry tone. He had heard that often enough today.

“Hey, I could be callin’ you a Texan.”

“I hear that’s worse around here.”

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“…You really gave poor Toby a knuckle sandwich,” Hailey commented, when they were driving away from the store. She glanced at his knuckles, bearing rough marks from where they had hit the target. “Looked all fair to me, but who knows what tricks you have up your sleeve?”

The Gamer amusedly blew air through his nose. “I’ve stood across the dragon of chaos. I don’t need tricks to deal with men,” he responded in a serious tone. Violence often put him in a sombre mood. What kept him there was Hailey’s reaction to it. The country gal was visibly enticed by his showcase of darker traits. John took the opportunity to show her that side of his. He would slip back into his usual self before long.

“Is that a metaphor?”

“No.”

“…I ain’t sure what to make of that.”

“Well, how about we start with identifying a couple other things. Namely, whether you’re a Latebloomer or not. When did you really first see someone enter an Illusion Barrier?”

Hailey must have known the question was coming. She did not even take her eyes off the traffic light while she hummed in thought. “’Bout three years back. Couple of months before I turned eighteen.”

“Anything that got easier around the same time? Any strange occurrences? Any intense interests you have?” the Gamer asked. “My powers became themed after video games because I was so strongly emotionally attached to them.”

Hailey gave it some thought, before shaking her head. “No, got nothin’.”

John stared out into the open street. They were rolling out of the city now. The Oklahoman landscape opened up before them, in all of its greens and browns. “Well, that means it’s either affecting something mundane in a way that’s difficult or impossible to spot or it’s so out there we can’t find it. I’ll prepare some tests for the former. The latter would be… difficult.”

“What does that mean?”

“You watch anime? Play any videogames?”

“I play some, why?”

“You know the trope where the main character has to be subjected to deep, terrible peril to awaken their hidden power?”

“…So you gonna hang me out to dry is what I’m hearing?”

“I’d like to avoid that.” The Gamer had a number of ways to make her feel truly threatened, even after that warning and even if he was going to look after her. He could throw her in an Instant Dungeon, ask Eliana (or other haremettes) to give her the full murder stare, or fake a kidnapping. All options he much rather would not pick. “By the way, are you just dropping me off at my place or are we driving to your place and I walk the rest?”

“Paw-paw would have a heart attack if he saw me stroll up with a random boy,” Hailey told him. “I’ll be droppin’ ya off.”

“Sounds like your dad is pretty protective.”

“Poor man only got one daughter and I am his favourite thing in the world,” she drawled with a content smile. Whatever words she used to describe the situation, she did appear to have a stable homelife. The smile gradually dropped. “Li’l bit less bite in him since his stroke last year.”

“Oh, that sounds terrible.”

Hailey shrugged and stared out the window. “He’s sixty. Mom takes good care when I ain’t around. Not sure how much longer she can do that.” They were alone on a straightforward road now, extending with seeming infinity into the countryside. The difference between the heavily urbanized coasts and the middle American swathes of land was incredible.

Hailey took her hands off the wheel and crossed her arms. She gave John a long side stare. The engine’s sounds rose and fell, accompanying the soft movement of her sole on the gas pedal. Suddenly there was a whole other dimension to her willingness to entertain his outspoken desire to court her.

Hailey was twenty. She was still at the beginning of the stretch of her life that people had to find a partner to settle down with. To that end, entering any kind of hasty agreement would have been to sell herself short. Competing against that was the need to have a second pair of hands to take care of her parents.

“Sixty, huh?” John thought out loud. “Is your mom around the same age?”

“Eight years his junior.”

A big gap, but within an acceptable range, John would say. Not that he was in any position to throw stones, one of his women was ten-thousand years his elder. Nathalia did not behave the part, to put it frankly, but it was still a fact. “They had their child quite late.”

“Yeah,” Hailey simply agreed. “Tried for more. Did not happen. They don’t like to talk about it.”

“I imagine it’s a sour note,” the Gamer agreed. He was happy to steer off that topic himself, especially since he had only raised it to make a suggestion. “Can you stop for a moment?”

“I really ain’t have the time to waste. Already put a couple of hours into you.”

“I just think that you’ll slam the brakes on reflex if we aren’t parked when I say what I want to say.” Just those words made Hailey give him a hopeful and mildly worried glance. Slowly, the car came to a halt. To conserve gas, the country gal switched off the engine. That she understood where this was going made this easier. Still, he led with his rationale, “I’m not one who thinks romance is an entirely spiritual affair. People find partners because partners have something they want. Often times that’s companionship, sometimes it’s a raw materialistic reason like money or an extra pair of hands. I think it’s good to have a mixture of these reasons, but the last thing I want is to start anything with anyone because they’re desperate.”

“Had to teach quite a few boys that lesson, thinking being a farmhand was good enough to sleep with me,” Hailey said, a warning undertone in her voice. “Sleazebags wanted one thing and took off when they didn’t get it.”

“What they want I already get in spades.” The Gamer shrugged. “I wasn’t going to add demands to this anyway. To be absolutely clear: the only thing I want here is that you have the luxury to make whatever decision you want to make, alright?” A slow nod was her response. “Cash or credit?”

“Whatev’r the tax-hounds don’t find.”

John chuckled, that was a reasonable perspective to have. Stretching, he had a look around, double checking that no one else was using the road or hunting in the surrounding areas. He opened his inventory window. Finding the right amount of money was tricky. To give her a sum so comically large she could spend the rest of her life in luxury was too much. A token sum that was barely enough to cover a few months of expenses was too little. He wanted to have her mind at ease for a stretch of time large enough that she never felt pressured while he was teaching and later courting her.

Hailey shifted uncomfortably, while he tapped buttons invisible to her. There was no greed there. No anticipation for him to get done. No happiness when he finally withdrew four stacks of cash and handed them over. Her lips went white. Her jaw was clenched tightly. “Thanks,” she pressed out. She left the cash lying next to the engine lever.

John found her reaction incredibly pleasing. “I like you a whole lot,” he told her and her eyes rose from the money. The beautiful green was corrupted by a whole swirl of negative emotions. “Just as a person. I would’ve lost respect for you if you were happy about this.”

“I’m choosin’ the lesser of two evils,” Hailey stated, touching her gun for one moment.

Then she turned the key and the engine came back to life.

_________________________________________________________________________

Hailey was stunned into silence when the Gamer’s entire harem came out to greet them. The criminals had been delivered through the teleporter, so even Undine and Metra were back already. The Gamer had been as accurate in the number of women in his harem as he had been in everything else he had told her. To hear and to see, especially in such a case, were two different manners though.

“God would not approve of your lifestyle, Mister Newman,” Hailey stated, when she regained her voice.

“I beg to differ. I think the Lord would be very approving of the care I take for my flock,” the Gamer assured her. “You could call me a benevolent Harem King – I immediately regret that joke.” A triumphant cry came from Metra in the background. “I won’t be available tomorrow, but feel free to send me texts if you have any questions.”

“Alright? Guess y’all’ll see me sometime soon… It’ll be… interestin’.” Her eyes scanned the human disguises of the many haremettes once, then she slammed the door of her truck shut. She waved one more time out of the open window, before expertly turning her car around. She drove off westwards. Information without value. The other side was a dead-end. John could not help but note it anyway. He could feel the distance growing through the enchantment he had put on her last second. An emergency precaution.

The second she was out of earshot, the probing began. “Alright, tiger, now ya gotta tell us mentally unconnected girls every little detail,” Rave demanded, grabbing her boyfriend by the shoulders. All together, the harem marched over to where they had their fire pit on the Abyssal side and switched over. The Gamer was then moved to his favourite camping chair, elected by location, handed a cold beer, and surrounded by all those eager to listen.

He gave them the quick rundown. Altogether, not much had happened. He had found her, saved her, gotten a nice lunch with her, bought her a gun, helped her with some loading, handed her some money, then she dropped him off. Skipping over all of the explanations he had given her made the tale a very short one.

Interesting was what came afterwards: his personal summary of what he thought of her. He finished that up with: “She’s definitely everything I could want from a country gal. Accent, killer body, nice mixture of attitude and tradition. She’s had and does have difficulty in her life that she’s trying to solve with whatever she has on hand and she got good at that. She’s friendly, clever, doesn’t take herself too seriously, and knows how to banter. Not quite sure where she stands on religion or resistance to actually becoming part of my harem. Her comments on both were pretty… inconclusive.”

“It took even me a few days to really figure out if I wanted to join,” Claire stated. “And I think I, rightfully, hold the record of joining the fastest. Single good idea I ever had. Single good idea ever coming out of this head. Single good idea to ever possess me.”

“Good question, actually,” John mumbled and quickly went through all of the women in his harem. Defining the point a haremette joined as the point when they had declared their intention to do so, Claire did indeed win out majorly.

“Before we all get side-tracked,” Rave spoke up, “I think she’s hot. She’ll be even hotter after magic does its thing. Doesn’t immediately matter what we think of her, right?”

“Indeed,” John confirmed. “The flirting is on ice for the first bit. We’ll sort out her situation first. Then I work my charm.”

“You say that in jest, my love, yet it strikes me that you have awakened her interest already,” Lydia provided her opinion. There was general agreement about that around.

John would have been a fool not to notice it himself. Calling it love at first sight would be an overstatement. A cautious fascination, that was what he estimated she was feeling. John knew he was a good catch along every line. Today he had proven himself to be capable, dangerous, generous, and of moral character. The best part was that he had not needed to force himself for any of that. Working on oneself truly paid dividends.

If Hailey did not find someone up to her standards in her relatively small pool of local contestants, then it was prudent of her to at least check him out thoroughly. That he had saved her life was a definitive bonus. What John needed to do next was to demonstrate that his good attributes were not just for show.

Actually, what he needed to do next was to dedicate himself entirely to tomorrow. A new potential haremette in the area was no excuse to diminish time spent with his current women. As a matter of fact, it was doubly important he proved to all of them that they all remained deep in his heart. No one was left behind.

Especially not the most recent addition on her own birthday.